Geoff Bartley - One Kind Word

Styles : Folk Blues

Released : 1998

1 - One Kind Word
2 - Welcome To The Spiral Dance
3 - Noah's Ark
4 - Natural Law
5 - Snowfall
6 - Into The Deeper Blue
7 - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
8 - We're All Alike
9 - Cut By Wire
10 - A Letter From Prison
11 - The Wealthiest Of Men
12 - Let Falling Stars...

 Geoff Bartley is no newcomer, he's been around the singer-songwriter scene for many years, but if this release fails to bring him serious recognition there's no justice in the world. He wrote, or co-wrote, eleven of the dozen songs here, and performs them with a spirit and grace often missing in the voices of other genre artists. His voice celebrates the music. Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" is the only non-original.

 Bartley and Frank Coakley co-produced the release with ample accompaniment, and tracks such as "Welcome to the Spiral Dance" make you want to get up and dance. Eight musicians in addition to Bartley's multi-instrumental capability (guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, and ocarina) contribute flavor and zest to each track. A veritable choir of voices, including familiar names such as John Gorka (who co-authored "Cut by Wire" with Bartley), Jennifer Kimball, Greg Greenway, Jonatha Brooke, Catie Curtis, and Les Sampou chime in where desired. With all these forces, Bartley and Coakley resist the temptation to bury the songs in production. There's not a bad song here; most either subtly or overtly show a social consciousness. "The Wealthiest of Men" joins classics such as Utah Phillips' "All Used Up" in condemning the system that uses and then abuses working people. Like Phillips' song, Bartley tells it in the first person. He doesn't preach it, he lives it. In a more light-hearted vein, "We're All Alike" with it's almost skiffle rhythm, lists all the things we have in common, including some rather unusual things. If you can resist tapping your foot to this song, you're probably the type who can eat only one potato chip. Similarly, "Noah's Ark" retells the Biblical story in a highly poetic way as a moral lesson for present day. He concludes the recording with the inspirational "Let Falling Stars...", a reflection of life and love that leaves you with a feeling of having made an engaging and enjoyable journey with Bartley. My only complaint is a lack of booklet; there are no notes or lyrics, a pity considering the complexity of some of the songs.

Big Joe Williams - Old Saw Mill Blues (Digitally Remastered)

Styles : Delta Blues

Released : 2010

1 - So Soon I'll Be Goin' My Way Back Home

2 - Shake 'Em On Down

3 - Saturday Night Jump

4 - Jinx Blues

5 - Pick A Pickle

6 - Ramblin' And Wanderin' Blues

7 - Old Saw Mill Blues

8 - Don't The Apples Look Mellow Hangin'

9 - El Paso Blues

10 - Back Home Blues

11 - Don't You Leave Me Here

12 - Shaggy Hound Blues

Buddy Blue - Sordid Lives

Styles : Jazz Blues, Swing, Jump Blues

Released : 2003

01 - Upsettin' Me

02 - Conversation With the Bottle

03 - Horn Rims

04 - Jesse's Back in Town

05 - Uptown at Minton's

06 - St. James Infirmary

07 - Monk Side Story

08 - Nobody

09 - Baby's Got the Blues

10 - Blues in the Night

11 - Pray for Rain

12 - Slim Jam

13 - Wretch's Lament

 Buddy Blue'sfirst all-jazz album, "Sordid Lives" is a hip, subterranean journey back to a time before jazz had any unfortunate adjectives such as "smooth," "acid" or "fusion" attached to it. From the beat poetry of "Conversation With The Bottle" to the cool thrum of "Horn Rims;" from the mania of "Saint James Infirmary" to the atonal astonishment of "Uptown At Minton's," Blue pays homage to jazz roots with all the passion, style and irreverence that fans have come to expect of him. Includes both new material and jazz re-arrangements of many of Blue's best-known tunes.

  Discography

* Sordid Lives - Buddy Blue

(Bizarre Planet Records, 2003)

* Pretend It's Okay - Buddy Blue

(Clarence Records, 2001)

* Dipsomania - Buddy Blue

(Clarence Records, 1999)

* Greasy Jass - Buddy Blue

(Clarence Records, 1997)

* Dive Bar Casanovas - The Buddy Blue Band

(Bizarre/Planet Records, 1994)

* Guttersnipes 'N' Zealots - Buddy Blue

(Rhino/RNA Records, 1991)

Buddy Blue - Greasy Jazz

Styles : Jazz Blues, Jump Blues

Released : 1997

1 - Hi 5n White Boy
2 - Mucus Man
3 - Slim Jam
4 - Horn Rims
5 - Drunk Again
6 - Blues in the Night
7 - Pray for Rain
8 - Jumpin' at Pete's Place
9 - Ball Tonight
10 - Conversation with the Bottle
11 - Minor Buzz
12 - Headed Uptown
13 - Wretch's Lament


 Buddy Blue was born in Syracuse, NY at the end of 1957 and moved to San Diego at age 16. He started picking a little guitar and soon found himself playing Deep Purple and Black Sabbath covers in a cheesy garage band called Carnage. After high school, Buddy apprenticed with Texas bluesman Tomcat Courtney, who showed him how to play greasy Negro music and also how to fry a mean catfish. In 1980, Blue formed his first real band, The Rockin’ Roulettes, who played everything from rockabilly to blues to soul music. They played the San Diego club scene for a couple years until Blue became a founding member of the Beat Farmers in 1983. He hung with the Farmers through three albums and toured the universe with them until he left in ‘86 to form an R&B-driven group of native Noo Yawkers, The Jacks. The Jacks released an album on Rounder in 1988, but Blue was feelin’ burned out so he retired from music for a couple years. He re-surfaced in ‘91 with his first solo album, "Guttersnipes ‘n’ Zealots," which had such happenin’ guest stars as Dave Alvin, Merrill Moore, Richard Berry and Mojo Nixon. The album was also Blue’s first experiment with vintage jump and jazz. In ‘94, Blue began an association with infamous manager-to-the-stars Herbie Cohen’s Bizarre/Planet Records. Bizarre released Blue’s first full-on jump blues record, "Dive Bar Casanovas," and also put him to work as a songwriter, producer, A&R hack and session musician for such labelmates as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, the Rugburns, Joy Eden Harrison and Earl Thomas. After not getting paid very much money from any of the labels he’d worked with, Blue started his own label, Clarence Records, in 1997. He’s since recorded three CDs for Clarence, with such guest stars as Alvin, Judy Henske, Craig Doerge, Billy Zoom, Billy Bacon, Chris Gaffney, Lee Rocker, Freddie Brooks and Romy Kaye in tow. Under his real name, Buddy Seigal, Blue is also a music columnist for such publications as OC Weekly, Relix magazine, The San Diego Union Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News. Buddy’s hobbies include collecting 78s and vintage talking machines (e-mail if you have anything for sale or trade!); drinking cheap whiskey at Pete’s Place with other depressing losers; watching and betting on professional boxing and training his faithful Rat Terrier, Moe, to fart on command.

Odell 'Bluesman' Maxwell - Florida Boy

Styles : Delta Blues

Released : 2010

1 - Florida Boy

2 - Boogie Everywhere

3 - Black Woman

4 - Tell Me Baby

5 - Blind Pig

6 - Gettin' Happy

7 - Good Time Woman

8 - Bluesman Odell

9 - Bring Her Back
10 - Everybody Gets The Blues
                                                                                                                         

Odell Maxwell is an accomplished blues artist whose riffs and runs evoke memories of the Mississippi delta.

 He was born in Florida and grew up listening to the artists who came to perform at his father's juke joint. Although steeped in the blues tradition Odell didn't start to perform on stage until he was 36. He used a guitar and amp he had purchased at a pawn shop.

 Odell's first band was the Neighborhood Blues Band, composed of musicians culled from the weekly jams he had on a makeshift stage in his Orlando FL back yard. His current band is Odell and the Maxwells and they perform a mix of Delta blues favorites and his own original compositions. His first recording was made last year in the basement of a friend's house. This second recording contains all original compositions and is again decated to his father Gus Maxwell.

*Original CD from sussex

Jean-Jacques Milteau, Manu Galvin, Demi Evans - Pacific Blue `

Styles : Diatonic Harp

Released : 2005

1 - Ode to Bilie Joe
2 - Watermelon Man
3 - Soft Rain
4 - Soweto
5 - Bad Love Interview
6 - At Last On Time
7 - Stormy Monday
8 - Same Kind Of Pressure
9 - Love & Misery
10 - Chain Of Fools (Bonus Track)

                                                                                                                                            

 Jean-Jacques Milteau' is a Parisian harmonica player, singer, songwriter and blues, perhaps the greatest harmonica player of French history, considered by many to be the pope of the blues. Born in Paris, near Porte D'Italie, became interested in the harmonica when he heard the first time in 60 years, and the folk music of Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, but missed out this time by leading rock and was turning for the most ancestral rhythm. He accompanied several French singers of different styles, such as Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour. In 1989 she recorded her first album, 'Blues Harp' and toured the world always accompanied by his faithful sidekick, guitarist Manu Galvin and distinguished guests of the blues. Since then, he accompanied blues Yankee beasts, as Mighty Mo Rodgers, Little Milton and Mighty Sam McClain.

 Milteau is a curious case in which the blues thrives far from its most fertile land, the southern U.S.. His passion for the blues harmonica and took him to Memphis in 2001 where he recorded the eponymous album with Little Milton and Mighty Sam McClain. In his next work, '3rd Blue', recorded in 2003, was attended by Gil Scott-Heron, Terry Callier, N'Dambi and Howard Johnson, and the most worthy companies and tuba player Howard Johnson Dean activist Gil Scott-Heron, the fabulous author of "Revolution Will Not Be Televised ', the anthem of the '60s counterculture. The blues Milteau now sounds nostalgic and lonely, sometimes emerges alive and infectious, with its fantastic harmonica solo. Milteau is today one of the most renowned musicians on this instrument, with extensive technical work are published on it. Jean-Jacques Milteau has proved that the blues, despite being born black American, it can be played with enormous talent and property, by a French and white.

 Album review of ymd5270
Let listen this album if you're a real harp fans.
Manu Galvin's concise and lively play guitar, like water flowing J.J.'s harp performances...
 You can realize why J.J. known as "the Paganini of the harmonica community" and "blues Enstein".
There are need no more comments. Flawless!!!

Bob Hall - At the Window

Styles : Piano Blues, Boogie Woogie

Released : 1993

1 - Detroit Rocks
2 - AllI Got Is You
3 - Beehive Blues
4 - Mr Freddie Blues
5 - How Long Blues
6 - She's Gone
7 - Axel's Wheel
8 - Going Down Slow
9 - Red River Boogie
10 - Gone Fishing
11 - Somebody Watching Me

12 - Blues Before Sunrise                                                                                 

13 - At The Window

 Bob Hall

Critically acknowledged as Britain finest blues and boogie pianist, Bob Hall's distinctive and original piano style has influenced generations of piano players and left a lasting legacy. He first came to fame in the rhythm & blues explosion of the sixties, as a founder member of The Groundhogs and later Savoy Brown. Other blues stars he played and recorded with at that time included Alexis Korner, Peter Green (in the Sunflower Blues Band) and Spencer Davis.

 Whilst many of his contemporaries went on to international fame, Bob preferred to stay at home in London, pursuing his passion for the blues and acting as accompanist to a host of touring bluesmen including:
John Lee Hooker, Howlin? Wolf, Little Walter, Jimmy Witherspoon, Chuck Berry, Homesick James, Lightnin? Slim, Lowell Fulsom, Charlie Musselwhite, Snooky Prior, J B Hutto, Lazy Lester, Baby Boy Warren, Eddie Burns, Eddie Taylor, Big John Wrencher, Mickey Baker, Cousin Joe Pleasants, Sonny Terry and Eddie Clearwater.

 Bob subsequently led head-lining bands Tramp and Rocket 88, whose sidemen included Jack Bruce of Cream, Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones and Mick Fleetwood and Danny Kirwan of Fleetwood Mac. From 1979 he has been a regular featured guest with The Blues Band, an all star line-up including Paul Jones, Dave Kelly, Tom McGuinness, Gary Fletcher and Rob Townsend. In 1991 and 1993 he won the British Blues Connection Instrumentalist of the Year award.

 As an acknowledged authority on blues and boogie woogie piano, Bob has contributed to a number of magazines and books and is the sleeve-note writer for Yazoo Records piano blues series. He also worked on the piano sections of The Routledge Encyclopaedia of the Blues.

 Album Review
Bob’s first solo album, “At The Window” on Lake Records, received universal critical acclaim, and has now been re-issued in 2003, with five live bonus tracks.
 Surely the finest of the blues and boogie woogie. There is just a whole heap of good feeling about this album that makes you feel good